Immersion Chiller Tutorial Video

[XXguy]

Thanks for the inspiration. After looking at some guys homebuilt IC on Ebay - he was asking $40 +shipping for a 25 foot of 1/4 inch that looked kind of skimpy - I saw this DIY thread & decided I could make one easily enough by myself. I was in luck because I had a new 50 ft. roll of 3/8 tubing laying in the basement still coiled up from a previous AC condensor replacement, so my cost if I screwed it up was going to be nil.

Not all of us have a spare Cornelius keg laying around - or an extra set of hands at 9PM, so I took the basic idea & modded it up a little bit. I found an empty 1 gallon paint can - and shot 3 drywall screws through the bottom of it onto my wooden workbench.

Now I had a nice steady platform to work from - so I uncoiled about 24" from the big round coil - straightened it out a little bit & then used a pair of vice grips with soft jaws to clamp it to the workbench. I was then able to wrap around the paint can "Form" by just feeding the loop around the can & following itself up the side of the can, same as the video.

Once I got to the place where the carry strap was attached to the paint pail, I figured I only had about 20 foot of coil left - so I cut the rest & then bent the ends up & tied them with some copper wire. I used 3/8 copper coil - and it was easy enough to bend by hand that I didn't need to worry about making any solder joints. I used the plastic sink hose from a "Pet shampooer" and a hose clamp. The free end of the copper was easy enough to bend down so it shoots right into the drain on the other side of my double sink.

I did a test run & took 2 1/2 gallons boiling water down to 75 degrees in a little over 5 minutes. My tap water runs about 55 degrees. I plan to double up with an ice bath on the outside (just like I was doing before) while running tap water through the Immersion Chiller.

Total time invested - about 1 hour of actual "build" time - and another 2 hours of cleaning, scrubbing, testing & searching for stuff - then going back & posing some photos to show how I did it. I'm going to soak the IC overnight now in a vinegar & water solution & try it out this coming weekend.

-XX

 

[TonySwank]

I know this thread is a little old but I wanted to post my finished product since I basically copied everything that Bobby did on here.

Prior to this project I had no experience soldering copper, just electronics. After a couple of tries I figured it out the the majority of the joints came together quite easily. The worst part was trying to track down the elbows, apparently there was a run on them at the 3 closest home improvement stores. Kinda annoying driving around for 2 1/2 hours for some two dollar parts.

Soldering is a little ugly but no leaks. Can't post pictures yet so here is the link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11893611@N06/4341780672/in/photostream/

Used it last weekend and took 3 gallons down to 70 degrees in under 5 minutes. Granted it was about as cold in Houston as it's ever been, but compared to my 30+ minute ice baths it was amazing.

Thanks so much for the great tutorial.

 

[BoogieBrandBooze]

nice...I just built my "Bobby M" chiller yesterday...didn't have a keg or anything larger than a waste paper basket to coil the copper so it's not as pretty as I'd like it to be but then again neither am I...no leaks either...Should be breaking it in this weekend.

Funny thing though...I got both of the hose fittings at Ace (North Brunswick, NJ location is closing BTW for all you local folks...could get some good deals)...both were 5/8 but one of them slipped on the tubing just fine while the other required drilling it out to 1/2" as Bobby mentioned in the video...drilling that thing without a vice was a bitch but it worked...and at least I only had to drill one of them...

Thanks Bobby!

 

[Espi]

well, i suck at life pretty much... my IC sucks, yours rules!

i wish i had watched this before making the mangled mess of a chiller i threw together.

 

[Bobby_M]

No worries man, if it doesn't leak and it DOES chill wort, good enough.

 

[BoogieBrandBooze]

Used mine for the first time yesterday and got the wort down to 65 in under 10 minutes...beats the snot out of my sink-full-of-ice-water method...

 

[crypt0]

Excellent video bobby, as always. I've got all the materials for building the bobby m chiller and will probably get around to it early next week. Question though - what all did you guys do to clean your chillers before first use in wort?

I've read soaking in vinegar, but what about scrubbing it down beforehand? Will dish soap do the job or should i use something stronger?

 

[Bobby_M]

Sure, you can do an oxyclean soak or scrub it down with dish soap and a brush. The vinegar or starsan soak is a way of getting it to really shine.

 

[crypt0]

So I got most of my chiller built yesterday. I am having a couple issues though.

1) My 3/8" fittings actually fit OVER the copper refrigeration tube not underneath as I was expecting. The sauldered joints seem to be holding and aren't leaking, hoever.

2) I bought 1/2" male + female brass hose couiplings and they seem to slide right over top of the copper pipe without drilling, and actually fit quite loose. I'm going to head back to Canadian Tire and try to find smaller garden hose couplings. I'd rather drill them out a bit for a snug fit then take a chance with something as loose as these fittings were.

It almost seems like I bought 3/8" tubing but I double checked the packaging and it definitely says 1/2....

 

[Bobby_M]

The confusion has to be the fact that soft copper refrigeration tubing is named for it's OD. In other words, 1/2" really means 1/2".

I think the hose barb issue is related to the fact they are sized for the hose ID they are supposed to slide into. The ID is manufacturer specific. It's probably best to hack off a short piece of your tubing and go to the store with it.

 

[Randar]

Cool Jay, let me know how much water leaks into your wort. I was lying about knowing how to sweat pipe, I just watched Norm Abrams do it on TV once ;-)

Actually, watching your video reminded me why I hate propane torches so much. I can now do that with MAPP gas (the yellow bottles) torch in about 10-15 seconds start to finish what you showed in 30 seconds sped up faster than realtime. Propane also tends to dry out the flux before the metal is hot enough to start wicking the solder into the joint because you are applying the heat for so much longer... thus a higher failure rate on your joints (especially for noobs)

MAPP gas is the shizzle, so all you DIY folks don't bother messin' round with the propane. :rockin:

 

[Bobby_M]

I think burning the flux is a common problem no matter what heat source you use. I like to heat far away from the joint for a few seconds, then get the heat concentrated to the work area right before applying the solder. I do have a MAPP tank now but it's not THAT much different.

 

[Randar]

I think burning the flux is a common problem no matter what heat source you use. I like to heat far away from the joint for a few seconds, then get the heat concentrated to the work area right before applying the solder. I do have a MAPP tank now but it's not THAT much different.

Agree to disagree. Time and failure rate are of utmost importance and I have never had flux dry out on a MAPP gas joint (assuming you are doing it right!). Not to mention I soldered the 8 joints on my MT drain manifold (18 actual connections) in roughly 90 seconds.

There is a reason you will never see a professional plumber use propane vs MAPP. When you have to warranty your work and hours matter on fixed-rate jobsites, it makes a big difference.

Like I said, a single 90 degree elbow like that requires about 10 seconds of heat application and both ends of the elbow are ready for final sweating. Propane takes longer.

Also nevermind that with propane running for so much longer per joint, that in real on-site plumbing applications, you create a much higher risk of starting a fire.

EDIT: And if you are starting from scratch as a noob and have to buy the equipment, a MAPP gas kit ain't that much extra on top of a Propane one, IMO. And a good experience will give you the confidence to tackle other jobs you might never have considered. I honestly think the plumbers union subsidizes the propane kits to scare people into hiring a plumber after the first couple joints they make fail.

 

[icantbejon]

I can't solder, so I'm having my brother in law who is a plumber build this for me. Thanks for the video and information.

 

[Rowdybowdy07]

Ive made this chiller, Excellent thinking of running 25 feet of 1/2 in copper in a smaller coil down the middle connected by two copper ts

to increase the surface area and runnning cold water down the middle of the boil as well Should increase the cooling as well

 

[77bawls]

Any idea what fittings you need for a faucet connection instead of hose fittings? I brew in my kitchen for now.

 

[Bobby_M]

We have a faucet to garden hose adapter that works for most models.